Treats for Clients!

Hi all,

I'm in Pittsburgh about to shoot a gorgeous wedding tomorrow and I just can't wait to share the images. I also have tons more to share including several albums I've created recently. I'm on an album kick. I've discovered some great album companies and having so much fun creating so many beautiful creations for my clients.

For the time being, I thought I'd share these. I came across these adorable frames recently and had these prints framed for some of my clients from last fall. I'm really trying to treat my brides who have hired my services this year and last. One thing is for certain, I aim to please for my brides and grooms!

Check these out!




Is this not the cutest?







Thanks and be sure to check back for some tasty images from tomorrow!

Emma Hartman and Clayton's photo shoot!

We had a great shoot with little Emma Hartman and her little brother Clayton right before Christmas at Aldridge Gardens in Birmingham. It was a little rainy, but we had a great time nonetheless. Here's some of my favorite photos of these two adorable kids!

This was one of my favorites because of the whimsical feel of it.









Emma Hartman is truly going to be the actor of the family.









Grandparents :)



Thanks!

Happy Holidays!

On this Christmas Eve, I'm reminded of all that I'm thankful for and looking forward to next year. My husband and I are in Birmingham, Alabama, relaxing and spending time with his family. I'll be resuming all of my weddings after tomorrow.

Here's our "children" on the trip down. I shot these with Hank's iphone.

I had to include this photo of Kaya. It's soo funny.


Frankie couldn't make the trip. He always gets sick in the car so he's staying at grandma's :)

Here's a picture of him anyway.



Happy Holidays to all!

WPJA Win!

I have some very exciting news to share. I recently found out that I won second place in the Getting Ready category of the WPJA's quarterly competition. This is a great honor because the Wedding Photojournalist Association is so highly respected. Please check out the website if you get a chance. They've got such great information about hiring a professional photographer as well as tons of other resources.



Thanks!

Megan's Shower

Last weekend I helped by hosting a shower for my good friend Megan. I posted images from Megan's pregnancy shoot a bit ago. Megan is due to have baby Ian early next month. Soo exciting. Megan and James are going to be great parents. I can't wait to meet little Ian. I wonder if he'll be born with a kilt? I certainly hope so!

On another note, I'm heading out to New York City today to photograph Anna and David's wedding this weekend. Please send me an email at info@studiobluimages.com for any inquiries or try my cell phone. I'll be blogging from that wedding as soon as I can.



Some yummy treats.



These are the shower gifts I found at the fabulous soap store, Milagros, which is located in Hyde Park. They have blue baby feet in the middle and are scented with a white tea fragrance. They even made custom tags for Ian. Very soothing and very adorable. Thanks for the suggestion Leslie!









Before the shower, Megan donated her hair to Locks of Love. Pretty adorable, eh?



Thanks!

Mandy's Wedding

I've been very busy the past few weeks with two weddings back to back. While I've promised to not share images from the first wedding until they arrive back from their honeymoon, I did want to post this image of Ricardo and Mandy and Hank and I. I cannot express what an honor it is to be asked to photograph another photographer's wedding. It's also a lot of pressure because you know how much photographer's value images.

Mandy and Ricardo's wedding was fabulous. It was so beautiful and sweet. Every detail was just gorgeous. This is kinda silly, but when Mandy and Ricardo turned around to walk back down the aisle after being announced man and wife, I just about choked up. They gave the most loving look to each other and I just saw so much love and felt so much happiness for Mandy and Ricardo. Luckily it didn't get in the way of any images.

Here's the photo and check back for more soon!



Thanks!

Western in the Sweet 16!

I'd be a bad alumni of Western Kentucky University if I didn't post something about my beloved team. WKU plays UCLA in Phoenix tonight in the Sweet 16. UCLA is ranked much higher but Western is going to make a great run for it. My friend Kathleen and I had the opportunity to see WKU take on San Diego last weekend with my friend Kathleen. It was a blast.

This is our great mascot Big Red. Many make fun of him, but he's adorable!



GO WESTERN!!!

Stair Climb 2008

Last weekend I participated in the Stair Climb Tampa with one of my favorite people in the world, Janel Schroeder and her husband Ray and other firefighters from his squad, the Pinellas Suncoast Indian Rock Volunteers. We climbed 42 flights of stairs in the Bank of America Building in Tampa to raise money for the American Lung Association. It was awesome! I finished my climb in 10:37 and the only thing that was hurting was my lungs were burning. Other than that, I felt great. Janel kicked butt as well and so did Ray and all the guys. They climbed the stairs in their full gear. One of the guys even trained with sand in his tank. Yikes! I don't think I could have done it, with our without sand. Next year though :)

Our team...(do you think Janel and I stood out?)

I had to add this photo Janel sent me. Check out the sweat marks :)



Thanks!

The Oscars Are Here....

and my winner goes to....just kidding. I still can't decide. I finally saw my last installation (of the ones up for best picture anyway). Hank and I will be attending a fun party Sunday to celebrate. Anyway, I had to add pictures of all the movies up for the best picture. My favorites were There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. Of course I picked the most violent films but darn, Daniel Day-Lewis sure plays a good bad guy. And Javier Bardem, now I'd never heard of him before, but I was sure impressed. My friend Lynn thought the violence should have been more implied than so grotesque, but I was just so caught up in it all.





So at the beginning of "There Will Be Blood" my friend Jim (aka Jimatthegym) turned to me and said, "Looks like he broke his left foot". I about lost it. So funny. Daniel Day-Lewis is such an amazing actor. He can play the most sympathetic characters and then the deepest evil people. Amazing!



Juno was adorable. Very Garden State-ish


George Clooney is the man. I love him in everything even if he's basically the same character in all. I swear it's not because he's from Kentucky :)



Atonement was a great period piece. I certainly need to read the book now!


Thanks!

Beagles Unite!!!

Hail Snoopy! That's been the best headline I've seen today after Uno won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club's annual show yesterday. This was my first time watching the show and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I absolutely loved the movie Best In Show and even laughed when Triumph The Insult Comic Dog visited the show.

These photos are courtesy of the AP(Seth Wenig)



I think this would be such a fun event to cover!



Here's some pictures of our own "Snoopy" mix, Kaya. Kaya is a mix between a beagle and a bassett and unfortunately, her bloodline is too royal to be accepted into the show. She's our one-of-a-kind pup who still attracts all kinds of attention on her walks.



Everybody always asks what kind of dog she is :)



Sent from my iPhone
I am so cool.


Thanks!

I'm a dork!

Hank and I had a fabulous time at Richard Shindell. So fabulous that I insisted that we stay around and get a poster signed for me to hang up. I know, I know, I was acting very star struck, but I have already bought all of his records and I wanted the excuse to ask him if he's still selling a rare live album. Anyway, of course I didn't have a camera, so Hank shot this picture of me and Richard with his iphone. I don't think the image looks too bad. I might try to shoot my next wedding with it. Just kidding!




Thanks!

Richard Shindell!!!

So, I have some fun announcements regarding some cool weddings I'll be shooting later this year and another big business surprise but I'm going to wait until the weekend to share my great news.

I also wanted to share my great plans this weekend. For Christmas, I was surprised with tickets to see one of my favorite singers Richard Shindell. I first saw Richard in concert when he opened for Joan Baez a few years ago at the Tampa Theatre. First of all, he's such a great songwriter. I stole these words of WMNF's website:

“Shindell is a master builder of songs, yet always leading listeners toward the emotional essence of the moment or character he is evoking. As with all master craftsmen, knowing what to leave out is as important to him as what he puts in. Shindell has uncanny sense of the theater of a song, building his ballads sparely and subtly, set to sweeping graceful melodies.” — The Boston Globe

“A tour-de-force of brilliantly crafted songs, passionately delivered songs that consistently create three-dimensional vishttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifual and emotional images which move through the listener’s mind’s eye.” — Stereo Review

“Shindell is a master of subtle narrative.” — The Wall Street Journal

Here's the WMNF announcement which includes an embedded video of him singing "Are You Happy Now?"

I mean, how can I not love the music of a man who sings about dreaming of driving a Kenworth Rig around the country? Can you tell I'm excited?




Oh yeah, and I just realized that he looks just like my friend Janel's husband, Ray.



Thanks!

Mountain Workshop

The Mountain Workshops website is finally up. For those of you who have not heard me talk about the workshops, it's one of the best workshops out there. It's for photographers to learn about storytelling and photojournalism. I have been a volunteer at the workshops for the past 7 years and am a workshopper-for-life :) What makes the week so special is that so many award-winning photographers volunteer their time to help better the profession. This year I worked on the multimedia team and produced two projects for the final show and helped Tim Broekema with editing the show. Check out the Mountain Workshops website! Especially fun is the Hollywood Squares-type video of many of the top photojournalists talking about the future of photojournalism.

Good News!

So our good friend Megan is pregnant. She told us the great news on New Years Eve! As a birthday present, they decided to surprise James' mother with a cool game of scrabble. Watch the video here. My good friend Bob (who happens to be James' brother-in-law) shot this for them and I rate it two thumbs up. I laughed, I cried, it's great!

Fun Stuff

A story ran in the New York Times a few days ago about the new movie, 27 dresses. The story was so fun. You can read it here. Now, I don't know about you but I know a lot of women who can relate to this movie. I have one friend who has been a bridesmaid in 12 weddings. The story mentions a website called Ugly Dress. It's a hoot. Now, I don't want to make fun of anybody but I think we can all relate to fashion that looks good one year and look terrible the next :)

So I did a little research on the web and found these images:
a renaissance theme with a blueberry twist...

Sooo patriotic...

Thanks!

Fun Stuff

In my house, my husband is the cook. He just about cringes when I say I'm going to cook. The funniest thing is that whatever I start, he usually finishes up. Well, my friends, this is about to change. For Christmas he got me a book we had heard about called How to Boil Water.



The book was written by the chefs of the Food Network and is filled with lots of photos and tips that are not mentioned in most recipes. It starts with the basics like boiling water and making coffee. It moves on to risottos and other dishes. Finally, a book that will teach me how to cook. I'm soo excited. Watch out Hank!